Spring-cushioned drawbar and drawhead for railway cars



Nov. 24, 1925-1,

T. J; JOHNS SPRING CUSHIONED DRAWBAR AND DRAWHEAD FOR RAILWAY CARS v Filed Aug. 12. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 x I f l A A A A III.

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Patented Nov. 24, 1925.-

11,562,889 PATENT OFFICE.

TOM J. JOHNS, or CLEVELAND, 01:10, assrenon or ONE-FOURTH T0 GLEO'IRA OSAKO, or CASPER, WYOMING.

.SPRING-CUSHIONED nRAwnAR Ann DRAWHEAD' FOR ItArLwAY cAns.

Application filed August 12, 1924. Serial No. 721,512.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, TOM J. JoHN s, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements Drawbarsand Drawheads for Railway Cars, of which the following is a specification, ref.-

erence being had to the accompanyingdrawings.

This invention relates to railway trains,

and particularly to-the' draw barsthereof. The general object of the invention is to provide a structure which will minimize the amount of jerks and jars which are transmitted to the railway cars through the couplings thereof.

A further object is to provide a construc tion of this character wherein these jerks and jars are'minimized by the use of springs yieldingly holding the draw bar 1n a nor-' mal position but yielding upon any forward jerk being transmitted to the draw bar or upon a rearward thrust being transmitted to'the draw bar.

A still further object is to providea draw bar with'a draw head which is capable of lateral movement to permit freedom of movement of the cars in turning curves.

Another object is to provide a draw head which is readily detachable from .the draw bar in case of breakage.

Still another object is to provide a. draw bar and draw head so constructed that the strain will be applied through the car oyer a relatively large area, thus reducing strain on any particular part of the car an minimizing the chance of the draw bar breaking.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following descrlption.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wl1erein':-

Figure 1 is a top plan view partly broken away of my, improved draw bar assembly; Figure 2 is a plan view of a coupler and draw bar withthe top plate removed;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view of a portion of the car frame, my

draw bars applied thereto;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3 Figure 5 is a section Figure 3;

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates on the line 5-5 of in Spring-Cushioned of the car frame or engaged therewith: in i any suitable manner. Each of the sills 1O isformed with a longitudinally extending opening 12 having inwardly extending shoulders 13 disposed at the middle of this 1 openlng.

Extendmg transversely across the car are.

thetwo parallel cross heads 14, each cross head being connected toa draw bar '15 which 111 turnds connected to a draw head '16 whose details will be 'later, described.

Each draw bar passes through a slot 17 formedin the brace 11, this slot-being sulficiently. wideas to permit lateral play of 1'.

the draw bar and head. Each draw bar may also be supported in a guide 18 mounted between the sills 10, this uide'being sulficiently large to permit of p ay. Each cross head 14 is free to reci rotate between the medially disposed shoal wall of the opening 12, but each draw bar is restrained from reciprocation by means ofsprings19 and 20. Rods 21 pass entirely. through the space 12 from one end wall of this space to the other, and'each cross bar 14 is formed with a plurality of openings 23 through which these rods pass. The springs 19 are disposed around the rods 21 and between the cross heads 14, while the springs '20 are disposed around the rods 21 but between each cross headand the adjacent end wall of the openmg 12. These springs are compression springs. Preferably there are six of these springs 19 engaged with the two. cross heads 14 and there are six ofthe springs 20 engaged with each cross head.

It will thus be seen that when a cross head is thrust toward the center of the car that it compresses the springs 19 and when it is pulled toward the end of the car it will compress the spr ngs 20. In addition to the springs 19 and 20, each cross head is provided with the longitudinally extending rod 24 which passes through openings 25 in each cross head, the extremities of the rod being mounted upon brackets 26. Disposed between each of these brackets 26 and the adjacent cross head and surrounding the rod 24 are the coiled springs 27 so that these springs also assist in resisting movement of the cross heads 14 and thus yieldingly resisting movement of the draw der '1'3 and the end i bars 15. Each draw bar is longitudinally recessed at its outer end, as at 28, the side walls of the recess being transversely apertured, as at 29.

Coacting' with each draw bar is the draw head carrying a coupling member 31.

This draw head extends into the draw barlongitudinally along, the opening 28. The

opening 28 is enlarged adjacent its rear end and the draw bar is formed with laterally projecting portions 32 which engage in this attached to the rear wall of the opening 28.

The draw head 30 is formed with a trans versely extending slot 39, and passing through this slot and through the side walls of the opening 28 is a bolt 40, this slot being large enough to permit the movement of the draw head. Any ordinary coupling-.31 may,

be used. The chains 37 permit'the'movement of the draw head forward and rear- -ward or laterally. This lateral movement of-the draw head is also permitted b'ythe relatively wide slot 39 through which the bolt 40 passes, and this permits the'cars to readily swing around curves. In case the lip of the draw head should break, the draw head can be taken out from the car in ten minutes by just unhooking the chains 37 and pulling out the pin 40, but there is very lit tle likelihood of the lip on the draw head breaking in viewof the fact that the draw bar is yieldingly cushioned upon any sudden forward thrust or rearward thrust.

It will be seen that this construetion will tend to prevent the quite common occurrence of draw bars pulling out and also prevent the jars, shocks and jolts which are given to a train both by the jarring of the cars against each other and by the jars and shocks given to it when the engine suddenly starts ahead or brakes are suddenly applied, or when the cars are coupled. It will fur ther be seen that the strains on the car and draw bars and draw heads are distributed so that very little 'strain comes on one part of the car, thus conserving the life of the cars.

I claim 1. In a railway car, longitudinally extending sills, each ,sill having a longitudinally extending opening therein defined by upper and lower longitudinally extending members having inwardly and downwardly projecting shoulders, these shoulders constituting bumpers, draw bars extending inward from of the sill openings, springs disposed between the ends of each cross head and the adjacent end wall of the sill, and springs disposed between both cross heads, said springs acting to yieldingly resist movement of the cross heads in either direction.

2. In a railway car, longitudinally extending sills, each having a longitudinally extending opening at its middle, each opening communicating with the space between the sills, longitudinally extending draw bars disposed between the sills and each extending to one end of the car and having a coupling at its outer end, the inner end of eachdraw. bar being provided with a transversely ex tending cross head extending into the opening in the sil1s, the openings in the sills hav-' ing medially disposed bumpers, rods at, tachedto the end walls of said sill openings and extending longitudinally, the cross heads being formed with passages through which-said rods pass, and coiled springs surrounding said rods on opposite sides of the cross head and resisting longitudinal movev IOU mg communicating with the spacebetween,

the sills, longitudinally extending draw bars disposed between the sills andeach extending to one end of the car and having a coupling at its outer end, the inner end of each draw bar being provided with a transversely extending cross head extending intov the opening in the sills, the openings in the sills having medially disposed bumpers, rods attached to the end walls of said sill openings and extending longitudinally, the cross heads being formed with passages through which said rods pass, coiled springs surrounding said rods on opposite sides of the cross heads and resisting longitudinal movement of the draw bars and cross heads, brackets attached to the inner faces of the sills, rods attached to the ends of said brackets and extendingthrough apertures in the cross heads, and springs coiled around said rods and bearing against the cross heads and against said brackets and resisting movement of the cross heads toward the ends v,oif the car.

A In testimonywhereof I hereunto afiix my signature. 

